This application is being filed with microfiche appendices of computer program listings consisting of one (1) fiche having fifty-six (56) frames.
A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns an improved user interface for controlling an image acquisition device. In particular, the present invention provides a user interface including a property page having an interface for core image acquisition device control and a property page having an interface for device-dependent image acquisition device control. The present invention also provides a user interface in which a property page of a property sheet attractively provides plural interfaces for the control provided by that property page.
2. Description of the Related Art
Computer systems often include at least one image acquisition device. Most common among these devices are scanners, although digital cameras are becoming increasingly popular. In order to access the functionality of such devices, users interact with user interfaces developed to provide control over the devices. These user interfaces may be provided by an operating system, an application, a device driver, or by software loaded within an input device.
Some features of image acquisition devices which are controlled by user interfaces are common to various devices, even among devices made by different manufacturers. For example, both the user interface for a Hewlett-Packard scanner and the user interface for a Kodak digital camera typically will provide control over an image scale feature. Despite this commonality, conventional user interfaces for different image acquisition devices vary markedly in how these common features are controlled. Thus, users must relearn the control of those common features each time a new image acquisition device is added to their systems.
One conventional solution to the above problem is to provide a generic user interface. However, such user interfaces typically lack the flexibility needed to take advantage of unique features of various image acquisition devices. For example, a generic scanner interface typically would be unable to provide control of a new smoothing feature of a new scanner, especially if previously-supported scanners did not provide similar smoothing features.
Accordingly, there is a need for a user interface that provides common control of common features of different image acquisition devices while retaining the flexibility needed to provide tailored control that takes advantage of the unique features of each different image acquisition device.
In addition to the above problem, there are typically many different perspectives from which a user interface might allow control by a user. For example, in using an image acquisition device, a novice has a different understanding of the concept of tone than that of an expert. For a novice, xe2x80x9ctonexe2x80x9d might be understood as no more than simple brightness/contrast control, whereas an expert might understand xe2x80x9ctonexe2x80x9d to refer to gamma or to the input/output characteristics of an editable tone curve. Thus, from the perspective of a novice, the user interface should provide for tone control with a simple brightness/contrast adjustment, whereas from the perspective of an expert, the user interface should provide for tone control with a fully editable tone curve. Generalizing this concept, it is advantageous for a user interface to provide plural different interfaces for a single control.
One conventional arrangement for providing a user interface with plural different interfaces consists of a property page having buttons corresponding to each different interface. When a button is selected, a separate window containing the corresponding interface is displayed. This window is xe2x80x9cmodalxe2x80x9d, which means that the user must make any desired adjustments within the window and exit the window before selecting another interface. Because this conventional arrangement requires the display of these modal windows, this arrangement results in a user interface that is cluttered and unwieldy.
Another conventional arrangement for providing a user interface with plural different interfaces consists of plural different interfaces crowded onto a single property page in a property sheet. Thus, one property page might provide a contrast/brightness interface, a gamma interface, and an editable curve interface, all displayed at once. However, this conventional arrangement leads to a poor user interface because the property page becomes too crowded and cluttered if more than a few interfaces are provided.
Alternatively, a user interface might provide plural different interfaces corresponding to a single control through a property sheet having separate property pages for each different interface. For example, in a scanner, to provide plural interfaces for tone control, one property page might have an interface that provides a contrast/brightness adjustment, and another property page might have an interface that provides an editable tone curve. However, this arrangement leads to a poor user interface for at least three reasons. First, too many property pages are needed, making the user interface unwieldy and unattractive. Second, because different interfaces to a single control are spread out over separate property pages, and because each interface has a different appearance, a user might be confused into thinking that each property page actually provides a different control. Third, in order to avoid inconsistencies, manipulation of one property page must be reflected in the other property pages, thereby violating a basic user interface design convention which requires that manipulation of one property page should not affect another property. page. In contrast to this arrangement, a well-designed user interface typically will be organized so that a single exclusive control is provided by a single property page in a property sheet.
Accordingly, there is a need for a user interface in which a property page of a property sheet attractively provides plural interfaces for control provided by the property page.
The present invention addresses the foregoing deficiencies by providing a user interface for an image acquisition device. The user interface includes a preview area for displaying a preview image and a control area for displaying a property sheet. The property sheet has a plurality of property pages, each of the plurality of property pages having an interface for image acquisition device control. At least one property page has an interface for core image acquisition device control, and at least one property page has an interface for device-dependent image acquisition device control. Manipulation of the image acquisition device control is reflected in the preview image.
By means of this arrangement, the invention provides common interfaces for common features of different image acquisition devices while retaining flexibility needed to tailor the interface for unique features of different image acquisition devices. For example, in one representative embodiment, the user interface provides a property sheet with xe2x80x9cMainxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cTonexe2x80x9d, and xe2x80x9cPreferencesxe2x80x9d property pages for interfaces that provide core image acquisition device control. These three property pages are provided regardless of the kind of image acquisition device connected to a computer system executing the user interface. The property sheet also can have one or more dynamically-loaded device-dependent property pages. Thus, if an interface is needed for the unique features of a particular scanner, for example a scanner that provides unique half-toning features, a dynamically-loaded device-dependent property page can provide that interface.
In the preferred embodiment, the user interface is provided by a TWAIN data source and is therefore used to control a TWAIN-compliant image acquisition device. One such TWAIN data source is disclosed in commonly-assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/944,434, entitled xe2x80x9cTWAIN Architecturexe2x80x9d, which is incorporated herein as if set forth in full.
In another aspect, a user interface includes a property sheet with a plurality of property pages, each property page having a tab describing control provided by the property page. At least one of the property pages includes a control region for providing control and a button region having multiple buttons. An appearance of the control region is changed in response to user manipulation of the multiple buttons, with different appearances providing different interfaces for control. Preferably, the appearances of other property pages in the property sheet also can change, providing multiple interfaces, or are fixed, providing a single interface.
By means of this arrangement, a user can select a property page by selecting a tab that describes control provided by the property page. Then, by manipulating the multiple buttons on the property page, the user can select an interface. The appearance of the property page is changed in response to the manipulation of the buttons, allowing the user to choose the interface most suitable to the user for utilizing control provided by the property page.
For example, in one representative embodiment, a user interface according to the invention controls an image acquisition device. The user interface includes a property sheet with property pages tabbed for xe2x80x9cMainxe2x80x9d control, xe2x80x9cTonexe2x80x9d control, and xe2x80x9cPreferencesxe2x80x9d control. The appearances of the xe2x80x9cMainxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cPreferencesxe2x80x9d property pages are fixed, providing fixed interfaces for main control and preferences control. In contrast, the xe2x80x9cTonexe2x80x9d property page includes a button region with plural radio buttons and a control region whose appearance is changed so as to provide different interfaces for tone control. The button region includes buttons for the following types of tone control: automatic, brightness/contrast, gamma, histogram, and editable curve. The appearance of the control region of the xe2x80x9cTonexe2x80x9d property page is changed in response to user manipulation of these buttons. For example, when the gamma tone control button is selected, the appearance of the control region is changed so as to display gamma tone control, such as control by a slide and a text box for selecting a gamma value and a transfer curve representing the effect of the gamma value on tone. Alternatively, when the editable curve tone control button is selected, an appearance of the control region is changed so as to display editable curve tone control, such as control by a text box for selecting special tone curves and a fully editable tone curve. Thus, the different appearances provide different interfaces for the control provided by the property page, in this case tone control.
In a related aspect, the multiple buttons are arranged based on user familiarity with or complexity of the different interfaces resulting from user manipulation of the multiple buttons. By means of these arrangements, a user can easily select the interface that best suits his or her level of expertise or needs. For example, in terms of the representative embodiment described above, the radio buttons are arranged in the following order, from most familiar to novices to familiar primarily to experts: auto, brightness/contrast, gamma, histogram, and editable curve. A novice could select the auto tone control interface, and an expert could select the editable curve tone control interface. As described above, the appearance of the control region of the xe2x80x9cTonexe2x80x9d property page, and the corresponding interface for tone control, would change accordingly.
In another aspect, an appearance of a property page is changed so as to provide plural different interfaces. The property page includes plural elements such as list boxes, text boxes, slides, curves, and the like. A first interface includes at least one of the plural elements, and a second interface includes at least one of the plural elements. The first interface is provided by showing the at least one of the plural elements included in the first interface and by hiding all other of the plural elements. The appearance of the property page is changed so as to provide the second interface in response to user manipulation of multiple buttons. The second interface is provided by showing the at least one of the plural elements included in the second interface and by hiding all other of the plural elements.
This brief summary has been provided so that the nature of the invention may be understood quickly. A more complete understanding of the invention can be obtained by reference to the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments thereof in connection with the attached drawings.